


Chaperones

by squirenonny



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coran is the teacher, F/M, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Prompt Fic, Shiro and Allura chaperone a fieldtrip, domestic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 22:10:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8074504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirenonny/pseuds/squirenonny
Summary: Prompt: Shallura + "We’re chaperoning this field trip and having way more fun than the kids AU"
Or: Cross-country skiing is hard, snowball fights are fun, and Shiro is happy.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inkandpaperhowl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkandpaperhowl/gifts).



“How come you guys always chaperone our field trips?”

Shiro looked down at Pidge, who was falling asleep in their cereal. A few drops of milk had beaded on their scarf, their hat sat crooked on their head, and they’d gotten distracted before putting on their second boot.

“Because there are four of you,” Allura said, pulling out winter coats from the closet. Keith and Lance came tearing into the kitchen, Lance in the lead and clutching something to his chest. Both grabbed their coats from Allura without slowing, then disappeared through the door into the living room.

Shiro and Allura traded glances. Then, sighing, Allura handed Hunk his coat and went to deal with their other sons.

Pidge watched her go, their cheek resting on a fist. Their eyes flicked back to Shiro. “That wasn’t an answer.”

Smiling, Shiro reached down and pulled Pidge’s second boot closer. “You’re learning about fractions in class, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So how about this: There are four Shiroganes in your class of twenty students. That’s one-fifth.” There was a crash from the living room and Shiro cringed, turning to see Allura return, a red-faced Lance and a scowling Keith sulking behind her. Pidge sighed into their cereal, and Shiro ruffled their hair. “One-fifth of the students and nine-tenths of the behavioral issues makes one hundred percent parental involvement.”

Combing their hair flat (or as flat as it ever got), Pidge gave Shiro a deadpan look. “When was the last time you took math?”

Shiro laughed aloud at that. “Okay, all right, lesson learned. I’ll leave the math to you from now on. Point is, certain people in this room have a knack for trouble, and your mom and I want to be there to make sure Keith doesn’t get Lance eaten by a cougar.”

Grinning, Pidge shoveled another spoonful of cereal into their mouth. “Oh. Why didn’t you say so to begin with?”

* * *

The kids’ science teacher, Coran (Mr. Coran to his students), hadn’t provided many details about today’s field trip when he’d asked for chaperones. All Shiro knew was that it was going to be a day-long trip to the local nature center, everyone needed to come dressed for the weather (twenty-nine degrees without windchill, clear skies, and two feet of snow underfoot), and chaperones needed to be comfortable with moderate physical exertion.

And since Shiro and Allura were both big on fitness, he’d figured they could handle whatever the trip turned out to be. Now that he was here, however, he was starting to wonder whether the _kids_ would be up to the task.

“Cross-country skiing?” Shiro asked Coran in an undertone as the class tumbled off the bus and instantly scattered in all directions. Pidge was already waist-deep in a snowdrift, Keith had a generous heaping of snow in his hair, and Lance shrieked as he sprinted away, another lopsided snowball taking shape in his hands. “We’re dealing with twelve-year-olds here, Coran. Are you sure they have the coordination for this?”

He glanced down as Hunk brushed against his arm, looking wary at the wintery chaos going on around him. Allura and the two instructors from the nature center started to corral the class toward the main lodge, which housed a small museum and a dining hall.

Coran clapped Shiro on the shoulder hard enough to make him wince. It never failed to surprise Shiro how strong the man was, even though he looked like the extent of his workout routine was lugging around textbooks for his classes. “Not to worry! I’ve done this field trip a hundred times, and the kids always have a blast.”

“Fair enough,” Shiro said, though he wouldn’t put it past his kids to put an end to that streak. Between Hunk’s uncertainty, Keith’s growth spurt and resulting lack of coordination, Lance’s utter dearth of self-control, and Pidge’s apathy for any winter activity beyond sledding and snowball fights… Well. It would certainly be an interesting day.

He looked down at Hunk, who grimaced as he watched the other students roughhouse in the snow, conspicuously failing to hear Allura’s call to get in line.

Shiro put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll give it a try, and if it doesn’t work out, maybe we can find something to do back here at the lodge.”

“Really?” Hunk asked, sounding as though Shiro had just promised him a day full of video games and hot cooca.

“Sure. But you have to give skiing a try first.”

* * *

Shiro had to  hand it to the instructors from the nature center: they knew what they were doing. After passing out boots, skis, and poles, they spent an hour teaching the kids the fundamentals of cross country skiing, beginning with how to fall and get back up (a useful skill, since half the class didn’t manage to stay on their feet for more than five minutes during the whole lesson.)

Once the instructors were satisfied no one was going to hurt themself, they set out  on a short loop around the lodge. Coran led the group with one of the instructors, young woman named Nyma who glided across the snow like she’d been born skiing. Rolo, the other instructor, brought up the rear, making sure no one got left behind. Shiro and Allura, not as graceful as the other adults, though much more so than the students, kept pace near the middle of the pack.

It might have been romantic: skiing through the forest, rabbits and the occasional deer fleeing their approach, a few flurries beginning to fall from the slate gray sky. ...Of course, the peace of the wilderness was somewhat compromised by the seventh graders, and Shiro and Allura had to keep stopping to check on kids who fell, encourage those who looked shaky, and congratulat e the lucky few who took naturally to the  rhythm of cross country skiing.

Shiro, for one, was not surprised that one of his kids was in need of assistance at all times.

Hunk was managing to stay on his feet quite well, though that might have been because he wasn’t skiing so much as cautiously shuffling his feet along the ground, poles dug in like ice picks to counteract the slick or uneven patches that occasionally threatened his balance. He wasn’t the only  one looking nervous, though, and Allura had a pack of four students clustered around her, all of them advancing at a snail’s pace.  Shiro had to smile at the sight of her coaxing them into motion, two clinging to her arms, another to the back of her coat, the last so close ahead Allura had nowhere to go that wouldn’t end in tangled skis.

Shiro flashed her a smile as he passed. She smiled back, but one of the kids latched onto her arm slipped, and she had to focus on him to keep herself from being pulled down, too.

Lance had taken a few nasty spills early on, the sort of fall Shiro would have expected to keep him on the ground for a minute or two, but he just kept picking himself up and plowing ahead.  The strategy seemed to be paying off. He would get into the rhythm for five or six kicks, falter, catch himself, then start again.

Once, when he’d been skiing at speed for a solid minute, he craned his neck, searching over his shoulder for his parents. Seeing Shiro, he flailed one pole in the air. “Dad! Dad, look!”

“That’s great, Lance, but you should watch where you’re--” Shiro winced as Lance’s skis turned inward and he landed face-first on the hard-packed snow. “You all right?”

Lance sat up, rubbed the snow from his hair, and struggled to his feet. “I’m good!”

Shiro left him to it and dropped back toward Pidge and Keith, who were struggling near the center of the pack. Pidge’s problem was mostly their small size. The skis looked massive and unwieldy on them, the tips catching the ground with almost every stride. There was a lot of flailing involved in their ski style, and they looked like they’d been at this for six hours, not forty-five minutes, but Shiro couldn’t help feeling a little bit proud of them for soldiering on.

Keith...was another story.

He was soldiering on, all right, but Shiro kind of wanted to tell him it was okay to admit this wasn’t his thing. He knew exactly how well that would go over, though, and he’d just as easily convince Lance to dial it back.

“How’s it coming?” Shiro asked, falling in beside Keith.

Evidently Keith had been so focused on his skis that he hadn’t noticed Shiro’s approach, because he jumped three inches off the ground when Shiro spoke, struggled to maintain his footing, then landed hard on his backside.

Shiro stopped, counting to ten to  hold himself  back from helping Keith up. Keith had yet to accept anyone's help with anything, and Shiro’s natural urge to fix things for his kids had led to more than one argument in the weeks after Keith first joined their family.  He had a lot of pride for a thirteen-year-old, and Shiro was learning to respect that.

Keith was scowling by the time he got back on his feet, red in the face and panting with the effort. Having stopped (clumsily), Pidge offered a commiserating smile, and Keith took a deep breath.

“This is stupid,” Keith said. “Why do we have to do this?”

“Because it’s _awesome_?” Lance skidded to a stop, kicking up a spray of snow. He wobbled a bit, but stayed on his feet and smirked at Keith. “You’re just mad because you suck.”

“ _Lance_ ,” Shiro said sternly. “What did I say about picking fights with your brother?”

Lance poked at the snow with his left ski pole. “Not to do it where you can hear me?”

Shiro crossed his arms.

Scratching the back of his head, Lance quickly continued: “And since you and Mom know everything, that means I shouldn’t do it at all.”

“You’re missing the point, Lance,” Pidge said matter-of-factly.

Lance stuck his tongue out at them, but pulled it back in quickly as Shiro raised an eyebrow.

“Pidge is right, Lance. You should be nice to Keith because he’s your brother and you love him, _not_ because you’re afraid of being punished.”

Lance’s head rolled back and he let out a sigh loud enough to startle two girls skiing nearby. “ _Fiiiine_ .”

“Now what do you want to say to your brother?”

“I’m sorry you’re so awful at skiing.”

“Lance...”

“I mean I’m sorry for pointing out that you’re awful at skiing.”

Shiro glanced skyward for a second, trying to steal some patience from the surrounding trees. “Lance, I will take you back to the bus and we will sit there for the rest of the day while everyone else skis if you don’t apologize to your brother.”

That finally scared Lance, who stared wide-eyed at Keith and blurted, “I’m sorry for being a jerk please don’t hate me I l-l-like you a little. There are worse possible brothers out there. Somewhere.”

Pidge leaned toward Shiro, one hand raised to cover their mouth. “I still don’t think he gets the point.”

“No, he doesn’t.” Shiro glanced at Keith. “What do you say, Keith? Was that a good enough apology?”

Lance stuck his lip out and batted his eyes at Keith, who scoffed in disgust, crossed his arms, and turned away. “Fine, whatever.” Lance broke out into a grin, but his celebration may have come too soon, because Keith added in an undertone, “Loser.”

In a flash, Lance’s smile turned into a scowl. He reached out and shoved Keith over backward, then turned and shuffled-hopped-skied away at a pace a little faster than a casual stroll. Keith got back on his feet in record time, scrambled after Lance in a whirlwind of skis and mud, and tackled him.

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“Hey, Dad?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah, Pidge?”

“You’d better go separate them before those skis poke somebody’s eyes out.”

“Thank you, Pidge.”

* * *

They returned to the lodge for lunch and a little relaxation in the museum, which contained taxidermy figures of local wildlife, including elk, coyotes, wolves, white-tailed deer, and one big black bear. Hunk and Pidge joined the majority of the class in sprinting from plaque to plaque and reading about the ecosystem, while Lance and Keith dragged their feet.

Rolo and Nyma stood by the door with a stack of trivia cards. The students who wanted to play in the snowy field outside could head out once they’d correctly answered a question about the animals on display in the museum. Pidge and Hunk had answered at least three questions apiece, but they kept returning to the back of the line for more while their classmates sprinted out into the snow.

Eventually, Lance and Keith joined the class outside. (Keith had answered his question five minutes ago, but had followed along behind Lance and complained until Lance won passage out into the snow.) They seemed to have forgotten their morning scuffle—which wasn’t unusual for them. Fighting seemed to be Lance’s way of reassuring Keith that he was part of the family, and despite always letting Lance rile him up, Keith seemed to genuinely enjoy the company.

So Shiro left them to their fun and joined Allura at a table by the window. “What’s the matter?” he said, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “Already tired of the snow?”

“I was practically carrying Louise for the last half mile,” she said, giving Shiro a wry smile. “I need some rest if I’m going to survive the afternoon.”

“Ohhh. I see. The great Allura Shirogane has finally met her match in twelve-year-old cross country skiers.”

Allura ducked out from under his arm, spinning to her feet. There was a challenge in her eye as she looked down at him, arms crossed. “Well, if you’re so unimpressed, why aren’t you out there right now?”

Shiro glanced out the window at a scene of pure chaos. There were students building snowmen and making snow angels, students spraying snow everywhere as they chased each other across the field, students jumping up to grab branches of the evergreens out by the ski track and dumping mountains of snow on themselves.

He looked back at Allura and stood. “Is that a challenge?”

“With you as my competition? Hardly.”

They smirked at each other, then in perfect unison turned and sprinted for the door. Shiro had to dodge to the side to keep from trampling Rolo, who was heading for the dining hall. The detour gave Allura the advantage, and she burst out of the lodge, leaping from the top of the short flight of stairs and landing in a snowdrift below.

She glanced at a pair of girls building a snowman nearby. “Uh… don’t try that at home,” she said, then caught sight of Shiro racing after her, yelped, and sprinted across the field.

The students scattered before her, but she still had to watch where she was going. Shiro, on the other hand, had a clear path, and he sprinted for all he was worth. As he neared Allura he reached down and gathered a handful of snow. Pulling on the hood of Allura’s jacket, Shiro stuffed the snow down her back.

Her shriek caught the attention of the few kids who hadn’t already noticed their chaperones acting like middle schoolers, but Shiro didn’t have time to worry about the audience, as Allura spun, grabbed Shiro by the wrist and elbow, and flipped him over her shoulder into a snowdrift. Winded, he clawed his way out of the snow, only to have more fall on top of him as Allura jostled a branch overhead.

Shiro staggered back toward the lodge, laughing as Allura’s crunching footsteps chased after him.

“Keith!” Shiro called, spotting his kids in a huddle around a half-made snow family. Keith crossed his arms, one eyebrow vanishing behind his bangs. “I need ammo!”

In an instant, Keith’s attitude changed. A ghost of a smile flickered across his face and he dropped to one knee, packing snowballs with terrifying efficiency. By the time Shiro reached the kids, Keith had a good dozen snowballs ready to go.

Shiro snatched one up in each hand, spun, and let loose. The first snowball skimmed Allura’s hip and disappeared into the woods behind her. The second, however, flew true, splattering across her face. She stopped, face a mask of shock, and gaped at Shiro, who grabbed another of Keith’s snowballs and backed away, grinning.

“Ready to concede defeat?” he asked.

He knew he was in trouble when Allura put on her game face, eyebrows low, lips quirked into a cocky smirk. A beautiful, if dangerous, mask, like Nemesis meting out cold justice.

Shiro raised his arms to shield his face as a flurry of snowballs pelted him. He staggered, laughing too hard to return fire, and let Allura drive him back. He was only saved by Keith, roaring a battle cry, and chucking his arsenal of snowballs at Allura.

(Of course, that only lasted until Lance threw a snowball at the back of Keith’s head.)

Shiro took off at a sprint, unwilling to provide Allura with an easy target. He packed snowballs when he could and lobbed them over his shoulder at Allura, then veered aside before she could retaliate. He had to admit, he wasn't expecting her to change tactics. Abandoning the snowballs, she broke into a dead sprint, quickly overtaking Shiro, who had just enough time to turn toward her before she tackled him.

They landed in the snow, Allura straddling Shiro's hips, her hands planted on either side of his head, her nose an inch from his. Shiro was left momentarily breathless by her proximity, the feather touch of her hair on his neck, the way her eyes shone as she stared down at him. She was smirking.

Then, in a slow, purposeful motion, she shoved a lump of snow down the front of his shirt.

Shiro cried out in shock as the snow began to melt and run down his chest. Squirming out from under her, he scrambled to his feet and took off running for safety.

He wasn’t sure how long this went on, Shiro and Allura shouting with laughter as much as any of the kids, who were only too happy to join in on the fun. Lance and Keith dropped their feud and teamed up when Pidge started targeting them from behind the thick walls of Hunk’s impromptu snow fort. Allura managed to corner Shiro by the fort, then recruited Lance and Keith to help her raze the walls while Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge dove for cover.

“We have to do something!” Pidge cried, risking a glance over the wall and nearly taking a snowball to the eye for their trouble. “They’re gonna win!”

Shiro was saved the trouble of coming up with a plan as Coran’s voice cut through the mayhem. “Mr. and Mrs. Shirogane? Not to interrupt, but I need to speak with you before we start the afternoon activities.”

Shiro cringed, hiding a grin in his sleeve. Lance and Pidge’s twin, scandalous _Ooooooh_ s followed him as he joined Allura and headed toward the lodge. It was hard to look mature when you were covered in snow, winded and red in the face from laughing, and retreating from a battle everyone knew you’d started. Shiro did his best, though Allura’s quiet laughter wasn’t helping him maintain his composure.

Coran raised an eyebrow at them both as they entered the lodge, brushing snow from their clothes.

“Sorry, Coran,” Shiro said, fighting back a smile. “I don’t know what came over me.”

* * *

Shiro didn’t see why he was the one stuck watching Lance and Keith while Allura got to go snowshoeing with Hunk and Pidge. Okay, sure, so he was the one who’d started the snowball fight. That didn’t mean he had to be happy about mediating another fight between Keith and Lance. And it _was_ ramping up to be a full-fledged fight, Lance dropping back every few minutes to taunt Keith, Keith stubbornly refusing to admit defeat. He was doing much better than he had this morning; Shiro would have been proud of him if Keith’s scowl didn’t scream, _I’m going to beat up my brother when I catch him_.

When Lance wasn’t picking on Keith, he was up at the front with Nyma, chatting away. Shiro couldn’t hear their conversation from where he was, but it involved a lot of Nyma laughing politely and Lance preening at what he probably considered dazzling charm.

Shiro rolled his eyes. At least Nyma didn’t seem to mind Lance’s company, which was more than could be said of Keith at the moment.

After an hour, Keith had his balance down. He began to move up through the pack, slowly but surely gaining on Lance, who was still regaling Nyma with his wit.

“Keith...” Shiro said, a low warning that made Keith’s shoulders tense.

“I’m not gonna do anything,” Keith muttered. “I’m just sick of being stuck in the back.”

Shiro wasn’t sure how much he believed Keith, but he let him go. By the time Lance glanced over his shoulder, no doubt ready to return to tease Keith some more, Keith was nearly to the front of the pack. Lance’s eyes widened, and then he grinned.

“Well, look who finally decided to catch up!”

Keith’s response was too quiet for Shiro to hear, but it didn’t come to blows. In fact, they fell in beside each other, Lance going back to his conversation with Nyma, though he occasionally turned toward Keith, said something, and grinned the way he always did when he'd told a particularly groan-worthy joke.

For a while, Shiro thought it was going to be a smooth ride, after all, and that Allura had stuck him with the troublemakers for nothing. He checked in with a couple of students near him, but mostly he took the time to appreciate the landscape around them.

Before lunch, they’d stuck to a short loop around the lodge, but now that everyone had had a chance to get used to their skis, Nyma had taken them out on a longer trail through the woods. They passed snow-covered fields, nests of ivy, and a small lake, frozen solid. They weren’t that far from the city here, but the grounds of the nature center seemed to exist in another world, the silence absolute except for rasping skis, labored breathing, and quiet conversation. Shiro couldn’t even hear traffic from the nearby highway.

There was a shout from up ahead and Shiro was instantly on alert. He glanced toward Nyma and saw that Lance and Keith had broken out into some sort of ill-conceived race, both of them kicking furiously and pulling ahead of Nyma, who called out for them to slow down.

They ignored her, of course.

Shiro quickened his pace, anticipating the worst, which meant that he was almost even with Nyma by the time Lance and Keith went off the path.

He didn’t see how hit happened, except that the two boys had somehow gotten their skis crossed. They stopped short, Keith swinging around in front of Lance before they both pitched head-first into a ditch. Nyma took off at once, Shiro right behind her. She was faster, stepping out of her skis once she’d reached the boys and kneeling beside them.

“I’m fine!” Lance said, shaking snow from his hair. He glanced at Shiro as he arrived and scratched the back of his neck. “Bet that looked pretty dumb, didn’t it?”

Shiro ignored the question, focusing instead on Keith, who was grimacing, his hands wrapped around his left ankle. Lance followed Shiro’s gaze, and his grin disappeared. “Oh, no! Keith!”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Keith grunted, trying—and failing—to climb to his feet. “It’s no big deal.”

Nyma put a hand on his shoulder to keep him still. “Let me take a look at that, okay? I’m going to get you out of your ski. Tell me if anything hurts.”

He kept his mouth shut, gaze darting toward the rest of the class, who was beginning to gather around him, most of them looking worried, a few wandering off in search of more interesting diversions. Keith’s mouth tightened as Nyma eased his boot off.

She gently prodded his ankle, watching his face for signs of pain. It obviously hurt, but not enough to break through Keith’s stubbornness and make him say anything, which Shiro took as a good sign.

After a moment, Nyma lowered Keith’s foot into her lap and smiled at him. “The good news is it isn’t broken,” she said. “Probably not even sprained. It is a little swollen, though, so you should stay off it for a little while.”

Keith argued the point, even going so far as to put his boot back on and try to stand, but he was obviously in pain. Shiro told Coran and Nyma to move on with the rest of the class. Lance lingered for a few moments before heading on.

Once they were alone, Shiro coaxed Keith into letting Shiro carry him back to the lodge. He sulked the whole way back, his chin resting on Shiro’s shoulder.

* * *

“And then we saw a _fox_!”

Shiro smiled to himself as he prepared six servings of hot cocoa. A few hours had passed, and the Shiroganes were back at home. Keith was icing his foot in the living room, Pidge and Hunk telling him all about their snowshoeing adventures. Allura had just finished making popcorn and was putting in a movie while Shiro made the cocoa, and Lance…

Lance was standing in the door to the kitchen, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Shiro raised an eyebrow at him, and Lance ducked his head.

“Need something?” Shiro asked.

Lance glanced over his shoulder toward the living room. “Can you...” He paused, then continued in a whisper. “Can you add some cinnamon to the hot cocoa?”

“Of course,” Shiro said, opening the cupboard over the stove, where they kept all the spices. “I didn’t know you liked cinnamon in your cocoa.”

“I don’t.” Lance’s voice was so thoroughly disgusted they might as well have been talking about dirty socks instead of cinnamon. Shiro turned, and Lance blushed. “Keith does.”

Shiro couldn’t keep from smiling, though he took pity on Lance and turned back to the cocoa. “Oh? And how do you know that?”

“We had a party in class last week, and Ella’s mom made cocoa. Keith really liked it, and I felt bad about making him get hurt—uh.” Lance faltered. “Not that it's my fault. Obviously.”

" _Obviously_.”

“Right.” Lance coughed once, awkwardly. “Anyway, I asked Ella what was in her mom’s cocoa and she just texted me to say it was cinnamon. I thought...”

He trailed off, and Shiro reached over to tousle his hair. Lance scowled, quickly pulling away and combing his fingers through his hair. Shiro filled six mugs with cocoa, adding cinnamon to Keith’s mug, which had a ghost in a Santa hat on it. He handed it to Lance, along with Lance’s mug (a blue one with a lion cub above the words, “Just lion around.”)

Lance scurried out into the living room, and Shiro followed, passing out the other four mugs. Hunk yawned into his cocoa, looking like he wasn’t going to last twenty minutes into the movie before he passed out on Allura’s shoulder. Lance squeezed himself between Allura and Keith, who had his foot up on the coffee table and brightened up after his first sip of cocoa.

He looked at Shiro, who sat beside him and smiled. “You can thank Lance for the cocoa,” he said, just loud enough to make the tips of Lance’s ears turn bright red as he buried his face in his cocoa.

Pidge plopped down on Shiro’s lap, still animatedly describing their afternoon. From what Shiro gathered, it had mostly been walking through the forest while Rolo identified the tracks of different animals and talked about his and Nyma’s research. Obviously, though, Pidge had enjoyed it. They only quieted down once the movie started. Shiro glanced over at Allura. She looked almost as worn out as Hunk, and Shiro couldn’t blame her. It had been a long day, and they were all exhausted. It had been worth it, though. Shiro wasn’t going to take his kids cross-country skiing again any time soon, of course, but snowshoeing was still on the table.

Allura caught him staring and smiled, reaching over to card her fingers through his hair. He leaned into the touch as Keith gagged into his cocoa. Pidge promptly pinched him. Shiro nudged the two of them before Keith could retaliate, and they both quieted, their attention soon caught up in the movie.

Shiro looked at them all, huddled together on a couch that shouldn’t have fit six people, and smiled. He was still astounded, sometimes, by the strange, wonderful family he’d found. Wild, quirky, stubborn, and infuriating as they were, he loved them. Troublemaking and all.


End file.
